The United States imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane and an official, Abdoulaye Seye, escalating Washington’s pressure on the court.
The US Treasury Department on Tuesday said Akane, a Japanese national who has served as ICC president since 2024, and Seye, a Senegalese national, to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, according to the department’s website.
Anadolu reported that the Treasury Department imposed both designations under Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court”.
US President Donald Trump signed the order on 6 February 2025. Authorities have since used it to designate 10 ICC officials, including former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan and eight judges.
The sanctions block any US-held assets belonging to Akane and Seye and prohibit US citizens and entities from conducting transactions with them.
Washington’s latest action follows the ICC’s decision in November 2024 to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Akane and Seye of “directly” engaging in efforts by the ICC to “investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.
“Our whole of government campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to national sovereignty will be sweeping and we expect more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court,” Rubio said.
Last month, the US State Department launched a campaign to dismantle what the Trump administration considers a threat posed by the ICC to “American sovereignty”.
Speaking at Camp David last month, Rubio said the ICC had “made themselves illegitimate” by claiming jurisdiction over countries that are not members of the court. The United States and Israel are not parties to the ICC.
Trump later said Rubio was seeking to “defend Bibi and various other people”, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Akane, the ICC’s sixth president and the first Japanese national to hold the position, has repeatedly criticised the US sanctions campaign.
Addressing the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties in December, she said the sanctions would not affect the way judges interpret their mandate.
“We will never accept any kind of pressures from anyone on issues of interpretation of the statutory framework and adjudication of cases,” Akane told the assembly, stressing that the court’s “independence and impartiality are our polar stars and remain unaffected.”
The ICC has not issued a statement on the latest US designations.
